The present invention relates to a weighing system for sensing a patient's weight when the patient is positioned on a patient support such as a hospital bed.
Some patients may be confined to a bed for extended periods of time making it difficult to weigh the patient on conventional weighing scales. Other patients may be wholly or partially disabled and unable to be positioned on a conventional weighing scale. The present invention provides a weighing system which can be added to or incorporated into a mattress and has the ability to accurately measure a patient's weight while the patient is positioned on the patient support. The weighing system can also provide the patient weight data to other systems, such as an air pressure controller for an inflatable mattress supporting the patient.